Duterte’s daughter talks peace with Red insurgents
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MANILA: The mayor-daughter of Presidentrodrigo“rody”dutertesaid she would continue to talk peace with Communist rebels in their hometown of Davao City in volatile Mindanao despiteherfather’sdecisiontoformally cancel negotiations with them.
Mayor Sara Duterte explained the negotiations were “localised,” meaning these would be conducted with members of the Communist New People’s Army (NPA) to help ensure peace in the city.
“DC Peace will continue with its work and they are on track with their timeline,” Mayor Duterte said, referring to the Davao City Peace Committee she has established to talk peace with the rebels.
On Thursday night, Duterte signed a proclamation formally ending peace talks with the Communist rebels, citing their failure to show sincerity by their unabated attacks on civilian as well as police and military establishments.
“We ind it unfortunate that their members have failed to show their sincerity and commitment in pursuing genuine and meaningful peaceful negotiations,” Harry Roque, the presidential spokesman told a Malacanang Palace media brieing on Friday.
But Mayor Duterte was not the only local oficial who said they would pursue localised negotiations with the insurgents to help ensure peace in their communities.
One of them was Governor Emmylou Talino-mendoza of North Cotabato province also in Mindanao, who said Duterte’s formal cancellation of the negotiations would not “deter us from pushing through with our local peace initiatives.”
The same stand was taken by Leovigildo Rozul, the former mayor and now administrator of the town of General Nakar in Quezon province in Southern Luzon, who pointed out the localised talks would help create “zones of peace” to protect the communities.
The NPA, with about 4,000 members, is the armed component of the Communist Party of the Philippines that has been waging a Maoist-style insurgency against the government for close to 50 years, considered the longest in the region.
When he took over as president in June 2016, Duterte initiated the resumption of peace talks with the Maoists through their political arm the National Democratic Front in Oslo, Norway which has been brokering the negotiations.